Museum of a Broken Heart
by Zoakdo
Summary: During a sleepless night, Isabella is faced with memories and a daunting question: Where did everything go wrong?


The following story is inspired by the story All Along by Lowrider, something that I do have permission to do. I hope you all enjoy it and please understand that I am a Phinabella fan, but I just couldn't resist writing this.

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><p>Museum of a Broken Heart<p>

Isabella pulled herself out of bed. She was exhausted to a level previously unknown to her, but sleep refused to ease her mind. She achingly opened her eyes to gaze at the clock which read two twenty-three. She needed to leave for work in six hours, but she couldn't fall asleep no matter what she tried. She looked away, hoping something could distract her until she finally found the comfort of her pillow. That was when she saw it.

A pink bow.

It was on the floor in front of her closet. It had fallen from its usual place on the shelf above her dresser. When she reached down to pick it up, her earliest coherent memory flooded back to her.

_"Isa, you look so pretty," Vivan told her young daughter as she finished securing the bow on her head. While she wasn't wearing a dress, she still was in clothes nicer than the usual attire for a three year-old._

_ "Mommy," she practically whimpered._

_ "It's okay, Isa. We're just going to meet our new neighbors," she assured her. "Now put on your smile. You know it's the prettiest in the world. That's good, the prettiest smile for the prettiest girl." The mother and daughter exited their home and walked the short distance between them and the next house over. When they got there, Isabella was clutching her mom's leg as tightly as possible. When her mom knocked on the door, she found herself dreading what they would look like. Maybe they would be like those monsters she had seen in those picture books or the robots that she saw every week in cartoons. Maybe they would be something much worse. When the door opened, she expected something straight out of her nightmares. Instead, she saw a person. A pretty woman, though not as pretty as her mom. But Isabella ignored her. Who really caught her eye was the red-haired boy with the triangular head and the large smile. Just seeing him relaxed her. Something about his presence was both comforting and happy._

She put the bow back where it usually went, pushing it back further to ensure that it didn't again return to her carpet. Looking down, she noticed one of her drawers wasn't closed all the way. What she could see inside was a green shirt.

_Isabella opened the door after the twentieth light knock that signaled Phineas had arrived to play. While her five year-old heart fluttered when she saw him, she wasn't familiar with the green-haired boy with the long head he was holding the hand of. He seemed rather embarrassed to be being dragged around by Phineas._

_ "Izzie, this is Ferb. My mom's friend is his daddy," he explained to her in his usual energetic way. "Ferb, this is Izzie. She's my bestest friend."_

_ "Nice to meet you, Ferb," Isabella said, remembering what her mom said whenever a new person came to the door._

_ "Nice to meet you," he replied, his voice much quieter than a usual boy his age. She also thought that he said his words in a very funny way. He sounded like some of the people in the shows she watched with Phineas._

_ "He has an asent," she said when she remembered what it was called._

_ "An asent?" Phineas asked, looking at Ferb with a quizzical expression._

_ "Yeah, an asent. It makes him sound different than us," she explained._

_ "Oh, that's what that is. His daddy has an asent too."_

_ "Say something else," Isabella encouraged, drawing great amusement from the boy's way of speaking. Phineas and her continued to prod the quiet boy for the rest of the day to hear his funny manner of speaking._

She closed the drawer and turned around. She knew she wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon, so she walked over to her desk and sat down. She sat before the gentle glow of the sleeping monitor, finding herself jealous of the easy rest it found. Sitting next to the screen was a cup with several immaculately sharpened pencils.

_Isabella placed the pencils she had spent far too long sharpening perfectly in the front pocket of her backpack. She was so nervous and afraid about today, but at the same time she could barely contain her excitement. How else was a child supposed to react to the first day of first grade?_

_ "Isa, are you ready to go?" her mom called from the kitchen._

_ "Almost," she replied as she turned to the mirror and admired herself. She looked like a cute, pink angel. However, no matter how much other people praised her, she only really cared about how Phineas thought she looked. Of course he would like it like he liked everything he wore, but she still wanted to hear him praise her. After one final look, she left her room for the lower floor. Soon, she would be riding in the car with Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher, Phineas, and Ferb._

She turned around, her spinning chair making that a task requiring little more than push with her foot. Her half open eyes gazed at all of the furniture and knick-knacks placed throughout the room. In one corner, she saw a poster of the Greek Parthenon. Whenever she thought of Greece, she found it impossible not to think of Archimedes.

_"Isabella!" she heard scream from above her. She looked up in time to see Phineas plummeting towards her. Before he crashed into her, he stopped for a moment in midair. The pause lasted only a moment before he was jerked away. She watched him soar back towards the giant tower constructed in his backyard. Attached to his back was a long cord that led to to the top of the tower._

_ "This is so cool!" she exclaimed. She jumped inside the elevator that quickly took her to the peak of the tower. From up there, she could gaze out above the entire Tri-State Area. Phineas was already preparing for a second jump while Ferb was making sure everything was running smoothly._

_ "Wanna try it out?" Phineas asked as he pointed to a set of pink protective gear and bungee cord nearby._

_ "You bet she responded with a smile as she suited up. Phineas always thought of her in all of his creations, and she always loved participating with him. He didn't jump and instead waited for her, holding out his hand. She took it before they both plummeted over the edge. As they fell, she loved the feel of his hand wrapped around hers and was disappointed when they let go moments before their cords were stretched to their max. But she knew their separation was only temporary. Soon, they would both be pulled back up and they would be together again._

She stood from the chair and walked to her dresser. On top, like with many women her age, she had a jewelry box. Hers wasn't very full, containing only the simple ornaments she felt complimented her looks. On top of it rested a small heart pendent she had received on her birthday so many years ago. It was the second greatest birthday she had experienced. The best one hadn't even been her own.

_Isabella sat on her bed, barely able to contain her excitement. Earlier that day, on Phineas' birthday, she had confessed her attraction. He seemed hesitant at first and on the verge of rejecting her, so she accidentally and unintentionally told him that she wouldn't be able to spend time with him anymore if he couldn't accept her. He quickly accepted her as his girlfriend when he heard that._

_ She couldn't deny that she felt bad about practically guilt-tripping him into dating her, but she rationalized it by telling herself that if he didn't feel the same, he would've rejected her all the same. And she had been able to be with him all day due to that. She already had his parents' approval as well as that of Candace and Ferb. Her mother was thrilled at the idea of her dating Phineas, so everything was going perfect. She knew that they were going to be together forever. After all, there's no way her love for him would've lasted so long if it wasn't meant to be. She slept that night fantasizing about what being with Phineas would be like and assuring herself the truth was going to be a million times better._

She exited her room and entered the living room of her apartment. Like the bedroom, she didn't have too many pieces of furniture placed throughout the room. She had a couch, a TV on a stand, a coffee table, and small side tables at either ends of the couch. The couch she had now actually closely resembled the one that still sat in the Flynn-Fletcher house, at least to her knowledge.

_Isabella couldn't believe it. Adyson had been sitting on the couch just listening to her iPod. She hadn't really had a problem with that, but it was in Phineas' house the night they were supposed to go on a date. She ended up venting her frustration on the other girl by insulting her casual dress, but she cranked up the volume and completely ignored her. Isabella couldn't understand why Phineas still hung around with her. They may have been old friends, but she was a bad influence on him. She was someone that was going to hold him back._

_ Isabella wanted to help him guarantee the bright future that undoubtedly awaited him, obviously with her at his side. He seemed annoyed with her at times for doing this, but he had to understand that she was doing all this things for their future together. They were going to go to college, get jobs, and eventually have a family together. Everyone knew that was going to happen, but he could just be so difficult sometimes. Still, she loved him and just wanted what she felt was best for him._

She walked out of the room and into the adjoining the kitchen. There was a single bowl sitting on the table with a spoon resting inside of it. Next to them was an open box of cereal, but they looked like they hadn't been touched in hours. On the floor, she saw it. A newspaper. The newspaper that had shattered her already fractured world.

_"How could you?" she screamed at him, tears streaming down her cheeks._

_ "How couldn't I?" he barked back. He didn't look traumatized like she did, but instead furious, like all the anger he had bottled for years had now emerged to contort the once kind face of Phineas Flynn into that of a monster._

_ "I always tried to what was best for you! Best for us!" she screeched back. She couldn't help but look at Adyson Sweetwater standing several feet back, appearing shocked but determined to remain. Isabella hoped that all of this hatred she felt right now would be enough to obliterate this girl from existence._

_ "No, you did what was best for yourself!" he shouted back. "She cares about me, not her own goddamn childhood delusions!"_

_ "You-" she started, but instead of finishing, she slapped him. Hard. His head snapped to the side with the force behind it. Adyson's mouth dropped as her hand jerked up to reach for him while Isabella couldn't believe what she had just done. For that short moment, everything stood still in this portrait of anger, jealousy, and hatred. After a split second or a day, Isabella turned and fled to her room. She fell to her pillow and sobbed until no more tears could flow, and then she just wailed._

"I'm so sorry," she whispered as she fell to her knees, tears flowing as the scars on her heart she thought had long since healed over proved to still be as raw as the day they were born. "I'm so sorry," she whispered again, as she reached for the newspaper. She crumpled it in her hands as her heart continued to scream the words on the page into her head.

_Phineas Flynn and Adyson Sweetwater announce their engagement_.


End file.
